Death
by AlyssaLies28
Summary: Kuwabara slips into death like it's a finely tailored suit.
1. Chapter 1

_Short look at Kuwabara's death. Haven't figured out how to make my line breaks stay when I post my stories, so I'm justa make another chapter. _

Before he even knew what was happening, Kuwabara felt the slow tug of death. All around him the spirits he tried to ignore daily sprung up from the earth. The ground was moist with blood and the scent hung thick in the still air. Kuwabara reached a shaky hand up to touch the gaping wound in his side of his stomach. His hand slipped in the hot sticky blood gusting from the hole.

Pain seemed to be ebbing away. The moans and cries of the restless souls swirling above him now sounded as if it were coming from a distant tunnel. Each breath he drew in took so much longer than the last, but he noticed with relief he needed each breath less and less.

Blinking his heavy eyes, Kuwabara came to the decision that death was like falling asleep. You just floated until you sink. Briefly he wondered if that was why you woke up before you died in a dream; because you were already so close to drifting away to begin with that even a simple illusion in the mind could send you over the edge. The thought entered his head and flew out before he could understand what he was thinking about. The cold brushes of the departed he'd shivered from all his life now warmed him.

A hand on his face reminded him to take another breath. Kuwabara opened eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed. At first he saw only darkness. Soon a blurry face flickered to life before his eyes. Dimly he noticed the tears splashing onto his face. They felt like mist. There, but not really touching him. The brown eyes were familiar to Kuwabara. So were the slicked back black hair and the green clothes. _Urameshi._

Everything was fuzzy. All the outlines and features blended together. The figure above him leaned over closer. Kuwabara vaguely saw him moving his mouth, but all he could hear was the garbled speech of someone trying to talk with a mouthful of cottonballs. Concentrating real hard, Kuwabara picked up the words 'Fight','Damnit', and 'Pussy' before he lost interest and started to drift off again.

The darkness in his head spun a little. Opening his eyes again, Kuwabara saw he was facing a different direction now and one cheek was more warmed than the other. His vision swam before Yusuke's face came back into his view. When Yusuke spoke this time, Kuwabara heard the words 'Love', 'Alive', and 'Need'. Kuwabara liked these words a lot better than the first set. He fought against the droop of his eyes. Trying to squeeze the hand grasping his, all Kuwabara could manage was a single twitch of his middle finger.

"Ur'meshi"


	2. Chapter 2

_Death continued! Kuwabara's death can't be quick. I gotta drag this thing out. Make it long and painful. Play tennis with everyone's emotions!_

Kurama stood back stunned. The calamity of noise crashed over him in irregular pulses, but the steady clanking on Yukina's gemdrops provided a sickening contrast that brought a bit of awareness back to him. Now he could also hear Genkai barking out tidbits of information as she examined Kuwabara's torso. "Shit! His right side's pretty much obliterated."

Yukina was franticly trying to stop Kuwabara's freely flowing blood. Already he'd lost too much and she could feel his spirit energy draining rapidly to compensate for the sudden loss. At the rate Kuwabara was going through his energy, he'd soon start to dip into his life energy, even with Yukina givin' her all to the man she loved.

"Genkai, it's not there. _It'snotthere_! Oh, God, what do I do!" Yukina cried. Both hands were plunged into Kuwabara's body. Blood saturated the sleeves of her kimono, racing all the way up pass her elbows. The mattress beneath she kneeled on gave a wet sclynching sound when she shuffled her knees. From the other side of Kuwabara's body Genkai threw Yukina a sharp, startled look. Panic shined darkly in her eyes as she nearly lunged towards Kuwabara's head and peeled apart his eyelids.

"He's already gone jaundice," she whispered in fear when she was met with yellow tinged eyes instead of the normal white.

The tortured sounds of Yusuke's wailing accompanied this newest revelation. Kurama looked over at the doorway where Yusuke hugging the frame, stifling the cries tearing from his throat, but leaving his tears to fall freely. Kurama wanted to hit the stupid sonofabitch.

In a flash, Hiei beat him to his goal, and Yusuke collapsed into a crumpled form on the ground. The hit didn't such much as physically hurt him as it did help Yusuke to relieve some of the pain and guilt he felt at the sight of his most treasured friend bleeding out across the room. Kurama stomped over and kicked the man right where Kuwabara was so severely injured. The rush of revenge at the sound of ribs bending and breaking had Kurama rearing back for a second blow.

Genkai raced out of the room, jumping over Yusuke's prone form as Kurama delivered one final rib-cracking kick. Ever faithful and resilient, Yukina stayed and continued to funnel her own spirit energy into Kuwabara. She'd managed to stem the flow of blood, but from the sweat pouring down her face and the random flickering of muscles throughout her body. If she had to, she was prepared to give her life to Kuwabara. Her beautiful, _strong_, Kazuma Kuwabara.

"Do you know what you have done!" Hiei boomed, standing next to Kurama to loom over Yusuke. He stooped down and grabbed a fistful of Yusuke's loose black hair. Yanking his hair back until half of Yusuke's body dangled from the clenched locks, Hiei dragged Yusuke closer to the bed with Yukina hunched over Kuwabara's paling figure.

"Do you _see_ what you have done?" Hiei shook Yusuke a little before repeating on a yell; "_DO YOU_!" Yusuke looked on with wide eyes taking in every single detail of the sight of Kuwabara. He let out a whimper at the thought that this, _this_ was the closest to death Kuwabara had ever come to. Closer than at the dark tournament, and even then it had been by the hands of an enemy, not a friend, that'd almost cut him down.

"Please, just fix him up right," Yusuke croaked. "Yukina. Make him better."

"She can't, dimwit." Genkai rushed back in with a clever and tossed it to Hiei. He caught the object with his free hand, then released his hold on Yusuke's hair. "Heat that up. And hurry. An ambulance's going to be here soon."

Genkai looked down her nose as Yusuke sat up right and rubbed the top of his head. "We can't heal something that's not there. And you took out his liver with that blast. As well as several ribs."

Kurama turned his head to the side. He couldn't bear the thought of how Kuwabara was to live the rest of his life, if he even had a chance at a life after today. At times like this, Kurama wished he didn't know every aspect of a situation. Already he couldn't stop the images of a fighter like Kuwabara being bedridden or laid up in a casket.

Vomit threatened to backtrack up his throat as the smell of burning flesh wafted its way around the room. Kurama reached up to cover his ear; try as he might, he could not block the sizzling sounds as Genkai tried to make up Kuwabara's wound to look as if they'd cauterized it to stop the blood. Already the human paramedics are going to be questioning how Kuwabara came into his injury. For once, Kurama couldn't think up an answer to the problem.

"They're here," Hiei informed everyone, Jagan glowing beneath his headband. Yukina, who was now slumped over Kuwabara's stomach, smiled slightly. Genkai reached over and gave Kuwabara a last burst of energy, while Yusuke took hold of one of his limp hands.

"He, he said he could do it. That he could handle going head to head full strength. H- he said, he said," Yusuke sobbed, "He's strong. He can pull through."

Kurama didn't have the heart to tell Yusuke that a chance of recovery was almost impossible. Kuwabara needed a new liver. And he needed a place to actually put one in, cause that part of his torso was just gone.

"He's still human," Hiei said softly.

A hurried knock came from the front door.


End file.
